4.2 My Creative Practice
4.2.5 A perspective on ‘Lockdown Works in Progress: Virtual Edition’
Playscapes began me thinking more three-dimensionally, playfully and with greater interest in audience participation. My participation in the KZNSA Instæruption exhibition was a great catalyst in this process. Another exhibition that provided an opportunity for learning was the CVA online postgraduate Works in Progress exhibition.
This exhibition of virtual space demonstrated possibilities for our regular group exhibitions within the context of lockdown and social distancing. This approach allowed us as artists to communicate and display our work in new and innovative ways, as well as open up more channels of communication and engagement from our audiences. Another aim of the virtual exhibition was to simultaneously show the art-making processes in which the artists were engaged, bringing about a deeper understanding of and communication with the unfinished works.
Our lockdown period was implemented with very short notice, and, as a result, I didn't have much time to prepare for it and the new editing project that was in the pipeline for the virtual exhibition. My first goals were to learn about the different concepts behind each artist’s work and research some strategies to showcase such diverse art in video format.
The editing process created its own momentum. Each time I rendered a new edit the results offered so much guiding feedback that it wasn’t necessary to pre-plan the whole project before launching. Too much thinking can delay work and I sometimes overthink the process and way forward, to the point of feeling helpless where I don’t want to do anything. Planning is indeed important, but it is usually only once a project is in action that we see there is a clear way forward to reach the goal.
Under ‘normal’ circumstances these works would be displayed together in a physical gallery.
With experience of the CVA and its gallery layout, it would be possible to visualise how and where each artist’s works would be set up in the physical space. Each individual’s work rises to the occasion and contributes to the conversation of the exhibition by visually
communicating with the other works on show. A physical exhibition has the advantage of being able to view artworks as a whole.
On the other hand, virtual video exhibitions allow for a single editor or group of editors to create a video or other digital content that displays the entire exhibition to an audience of unlimited numbers. Although, with video, these works can only be viewed sequentially, in the
order in which they have been included in the video. A good grasp of simple video editing software or even more complex programs is necessary. A limitation of video exhibitions is recreating the opportunity for live conversation and interaction with the work. Comments, direct messages, and e-mails certainly do facilitate the creative conversation, but the power of face-to-face connection at an exhibition should not be overlooked or unnecessarily replaced.
While there are numerous exciting and challenging aspects of showcasing art on digital platforms, including creating a virtual space online that serves as a 360degree virtual tour, our virtual exhibition video was born from a simple idea and some key questions. How can we, as a group of artists, share our current works with the public during the lockdown period? How do we tie our practices together in a piece of digital media that showcases our work
effectively? And how do we execute this in a short period of time? ‘Lockdown Works in Progress: Virtual Edition’ was our first of many possible answers to this question.
This experience provided me an opportunity to develop my editing skills and to reinforce my PLR investigation of art and social media, private and public spheres and the overlap between them. I was also in the process of producing large scale final works that would serve as a culmination of my research for my own exhibition.
contrast, the background painting of a road in a South Korean city, where people have to move constantly without stopping in place, represents movement through a place or space.
The stillness of the chair is disquieted with the presence of the road, while the movement of the road is punctuated by the pause of the chair. The landscape on the back layer again depicts a quiet, although now outdoor/public, space.
The last artwork I created in this research process is From here to there (Figure 36). It depicts the same narrow Seoul alleyway and cityscape that I originally used in two separate layers in the Here and There prototype (figure 22), but now compresses them together onto one
merged layer of meshed memories and experience. I created it in two parts, side by side like a diptych, for the purpose of transportability as it is the largest piece I made. Together the frames unintentionally also look like a glass door or window which symbolize thresholds.
This piece became key in understanding the, sometimes unintentional, ways in which I have
Figure 36. From here to there, 2020. Acrylic on organza 162.2x224.2cm
drawn on PLR. PLR allowed for studio-based production to serve as an active research tool and method, and my practice further expanded my perception of the spaces I looked at (Barrett & Bolt 2010: 186). From here to there represents the intersections of private and public, imagined and real, acting as a virtual private space that allows me to visit Seoul while living in Hillcrest. The painted image on the surface could be seen as a barrier on the silk screen, but in fact, it acts like an interpreter, or semi-permeable membrane, communicating between the “here and there” on either side of the screen. The silk screen embodies the
liminality of the middle space, that space of the transforming pupa, and compresses memories into the one moment of the now.
As part of my private studio process with this and other paintings, I projected images onto my empty screens (Figure 37). Like the pupa in metamorphosis, this process only takes place once the once the silk had been stretched and made ready and in my darkened garage. Within this liminal space of transition and transformation, the images and light from the projection appear on the silk screens, but also pass through the silk layer onto the wall as well, creating a double image. The images from the computer are transformed through the light of the
projector, manifesting, like an emerging moth, as entirely new images in layers of light and
Figure 37. Process of projecting image onto silk screen, 2020. 224.2 x 324.4 cm.
space that communicate and interact with each other, like the moth’s twin wings. It is also interesting to note that when I am painting these project images onto the silk I have to stand between the projector and the stretched silk canvases. In doing so, the images are projected images onto me and cast my shadow onto the silk and wall beyond. I become somehow merged with the images and submerged into the space between projector and screen, the image and the artwork, the concept and the process. The communication of my concept initially revolves around the silk layers I paint in my private studio space. Through reflecting on my process, however, I can see that the content, whether video or image, not only literally projects beyond these silk layers but metaphorically also extends beyond the walls of my studio and into public places crowded with Koreans, South Africans and other people via social media. This process and discovery later inspired the layering and projecting of my work and processes in my final exhibition, as well as the creation of ‘private’ and ‘open’
spaces within it.
4.3 The Exhibition: Process, preparation and reflection
Having explored my creative practice and PLR, I arrived at the point of synthesis of the project in the form of the curation of my final exhibition. In this section I explain the critical reflection and ‘dimensional thinking’ that provide a scaffolding for the curation process. I then discuss and illustrate my exhibition “The invisible wall between private and public places: an artistic exploration of liminality”.
4.3.1 Critical Reflection: Dimensional Thinking
The curating of my work in real and virtual public spaces increased my awareness of the layered complexity of my practice. Enriched by my learnings about curation from my experience at the KZNSA and in editing the online Lockdown virtual exhibition, I began focussing more specifically on the curation of the final exhibition for my PLR submission.
The concept of dimensional thinking had been a growing part of my practice with the interface between two dimensionality and 3-D space. Three dimensional scenes and objects become 2-D images through the process of being photographed. After being uploaded online by the photographer, these photographs they are downloaded and re-interpreted by me in paint
on my canvasses, still in 2-D form. By layering these painted screens in real space, the images again take on a form of three dimensionality, expanding my dimensional thinking and causing me to consider my work in multiple dimensions at once. (Root-Bernstein, Robert & Michèle 1991: 238, 241). My own expression of 3-D space, or 2-D thinking in 3-D space, can now be interpreted quite differently than before.
Through reflecting on and considering how we appreciate and take in artworks I have realised that I seek to go beyond simply displaying my painted images on the walls for visitors to view. I consider not only the 2-D space of the canvases, but also how they will be placed in a variety of 3-D spaces. This interaction between 2-D and 3-D space generates communication between imagery, frames, and the environment. Furthermore, the considered alignment and distance between frames and positioning of images lends itself to leading the viewer through a story. Standing alone, the imagery in my layered paintings expresses my thoughts and experiences, but cannot fully communicate the immensity of my concept of invisible layers.
Like archaeologists who study the age and history of real life by looking at footprints or fossils in the ground and doctors who analyse the inside of a person with an MRI scan (Root- Bernstein, R. & Root-Bernstein, M. 1999: 241), these approaches to dimensioned thinking gave me the power to reinterpret real-world creativity and to further push my ideas. Spriggs demonstrates this as his work excavates the many layers that are present through past and present human existence. Spriggs sought to convey the essential meaning of these phenomena through the composition of small fragments of material brought together in transparent layers.
This conceptual excavation furthered my interpretations of invisible layers, as I considered the many nuances not visible along the spectrum between the layers. I questioned the
boundaries and layers between the private and public areas as raised by Iveković. This liminal area can be uncomfortable at times and has raised questions about my social behaviour in private and public spaces. Siwani’ s performance piece, exploring the liminal sense of
identity, and Suh’s installation expressing his experience of immigration are also expressions of dimensional thinking that have contributed to my own.
The shift in thinking dimensionally is supported by the fact that I can use digital platforms to expand the development process and display of my work. My work itself has come to exist by
virtue of many digital platforms and then it also exists in varied digital forms and platforms.
Awareness of both digital space and real life has led me to be conscious of dimensional shifts in my creative practice, and to evaluate and re-examine perspective and dimensions in my work.
Part of my practice, sketching in a journal, Figure 38, also enabled me to visually explore the layering of frames and dimensional thinking (Sullivan 2004: 180). These discoveries, made through practice, led to the development of the theoretical framework of this research. These discoveries within PLR link to the concept of childhood play and my desire to approach this research with that same sense of adventure and joy Thomassen 2014: 143).
Another dimension of the work is added by introducing a viewing audience. When an audience enters my exhibition space, they also bring with them their own experiences and internalised invisible layers. As a result, their first encounter with my work will be through their own stories and lenses. Every individual has a unique combination of upbringing, society, environment and experiences. These elements become embodied through our memories, layered and invisible; these memories can be set off or triggered when encountering a particular event or moment.
Figure 38. Sketches in journal considering layering frames, 2019.
My intention in my final exhibition of works for this PLR, becomes about creating a space where the audience can feel and experience their own layers alongside and through my paintings. The installation of canvases and silk screens will be arranged in such a way that some paintings will be ‘open’ enough to allow the audience to pass by or through, while others will be more closely positioned to hinder the movement of visitors. As a visitor, you would sense some sort of ‘progress’ through an environment by passing through an almost maze-like arrangement of paintings.
The 2019 CVA Instæruption group exhibition at KZNSA Gallery provided me the
opportunity to test run potential installation for my paintings. I watched and considered how people reacted to and engaged with my work during the exhibition. Most people were
cautious in front of the work as with any gallery show, but they also engaged more physically with it by moving in between and around the layers of my paintings. I saw my installation move from being static paintings for appreciation and meditation to becoming a 3-D structure in space that allowed and encouraged unique participation and experience. The audience created and added their own invisible layers to the work, taking photos and videos through the paintings and sharing them with friends. Again, communication and sharing can be made possible through play in a “playscape”. Audience engagement adds a further unanticipated dimension to my work, and I later realised that I too can became another member of the audience, appreciating their reaction and performance in the distance.
Overemphasis of realism and traditionalism (particularly in landscape paintings in this study) in a gallery setting can result in a serious atmosphere. My sense is that this is because artists work from their private, personal and individual memories, experiences and feelings, but perhaps don’t offer their audience a bridge to engagement or participation. If I am able to present the serious quality of my work in a playful way, the overall atmosphere and emotions experienced by the audience will be very different. I can transform my paintings into 3-D spaces where you can become subsumed and immersed, almost as though within the paintings themselves. Audiences can explore the space, moving and playing between works and
experiencing the distance between themselves and others in the middle of the layered paintings. In the process of accepting and experiencing the space of play in seriousness, the
audience also experiences some form of liminality and an altered multi-dimensional experience.
Multidimensional thinking led me to consider how I could include actual 3-D objects in my exhibition; pieces of furniture from my own private studio (Figure 39). I contemplated how I could create critical locations in the exhibition space depicting private and public spheres. I drew ideas about the final concept I had in mind that opened the way for me to visualise and bring to life my personal thoughts. My reflection allowed me to clarify my personal, tacit knowledge, by helping me to discover where I am located in literary and research contexts (Smith &
Dean 2010: 163). With this idea to create spaces in my
exhibition using furniture, I considered the significance of the boundaries and openings I could form. As mentioned in chapter two, thresholds and boundaries in Dutch artworks of the 15th and 16th centuries have significant meaning (Jacobs 2018: 193), separating public and private spheres, and I wanted to emulate an element of this in the
curation of my work.
Figure 39. Sketches in journal consid- ering exhibition display, 2019.
4.3.2 Exhibiting the Work
The final works were exhibited at the Jack Heath Gallery of the Centre for Visual Arts at the UKZN Pietermaritzburg campus. The space was divided into two parts: a main large area with natural light and a small tutorial room off the side. I intended the tutorial room would be set up with smaller works and pieces of furniture to create the sense of my own art studio for individuals to contemplate and feel as though they are peering into a contained, private space.
I intended the main gallery to house the larger, layered works that needed natural lighting and sufficient space because I wanted my audience to be able to interact with and move around and in between them.
At the opening of the front main galley door, I suspended From here to there, my largest work, to look like an access point (Figure 40). From here to there, reminiscent of an alley that leads into the centre of Seoul, practically provides guiding power into the venue by allowing the audience to visually travel down the alley and through and beyond the transparent layer, and then physically being directed to move around either side of the image and down the sides of the gallery into the viewing space for the public.
Figure 40. Initial view of From here to there from gallery entrance.
Usually, this large gallery (Figure 41) is a public space that, when opened, invites anyone to enter. However, with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, access to the gallery by the public became strictly limited; anyone needing to enter the CVA or the Jack Heath Gallery had to acquire a permit. In this way, the space became semi-public, not private but still limited in the public context. Initially I imagined a public exhibition, but due to lockdown regulations, my exhibition was limited to a few CVA colleagues and staff.
Behind From here to there the audience would encounter the three semi-transparent layers of Stop and move (Figure 42), layered sequentially like Sprigg’s Stratachrome Green (Figure 7), but allowing for enough room to walk in between each layer. Suspending the artworks
allowed for clear galley floorspace through which the audience could freely move and
appreciate the painted images from both the front and back. The suspended images could also interface with each other and communicate with the light from the walls, floors and high ceiling of the surrounding space (Figure 43).
Figure 41. Panoramic view of frames creating invisible layers in the gallery space. Drone image: Jung-yup Kim
Figure 42. Stop and move layers positioned after From here to there.
To reiterate the layers and expand the sense of movement through space, I positioned Seoul and Hillcrest behind Stop and move (Figure 42).
In front of the window and Landscape and Door (Figure 44) were installed next to the tutorial room doors. Positioning these paintings here emphasised the concept of thresholds. Doors act as a link between two regions and enable us to move from one site to another by passing through the threshold. The real door and the painted door have different meanings, but both played indispensable roles in this space. Though the painted door cannot physically move you from place to place, as an object it embodies the possibility of movement together with ideas, theory and fantasies. Through the actual door to the tutorial room, the viewer enters a space intended to be set up to represent a version of my private studio, creating a behind-the-scenes area, with paintings and works in progress.
Figure 44. Landscape and door and Through window installed alongside tutorial room door.
Figure 43. View of layers from ceiling of gallery. Drone image: Jung-yup Kim